The Foster Care System and Its Victims: Part I

PART ONE:

What happens when someone finds out a child has been abused?

In most cases, that "someone" is a mandated reporter who sees bruises or other signs of physical or emotional abuse. Mandated reporters are those who work with children such as teachers, church leaders, daycare owners, Boy and Girl Scout leaders, therapists, and doctors. Other calls are made from "non-mandated reporters" such as neighbors and relatives. In all of these cases, when a call is made, Child Protective Services (CPS) is brought in.

Except for extreme cases where criminal charges are pressed, CPS's first goal is to reunite children with their parents. However, when a case of abuse becomes too severe or the caretaker does not comply with the reunification plan, the child is removed from the family. First, CPS tries to find other family members who are willing to take care of the child. If this is not possible, the child is then placed in an emergency shelter, a group home, or with a certified foster family.

How does the Foster Care System work?

The difficult journey that leads a child to foster care is almost always a traumatic one. State-run agencies such as Child Protective Services (CPS) assess the safety of each child they handle and decide whether or not the evidence indicates an abusive or neglectful situation and whether it calls for intervention. Before a child is removed from a family, each case must be presented before a judge, and that judge must agree that the state is within its legal rights to remove the child. In emergency cases where criminal charges have been filed against a child's parent(s) or caregiver(s), an exception is made and the child can be immediately taken from the home.

Always, the initial intent is to keep a child with his or her biological family. To this end, CPS first offers support services to families such as parenting classes, family therapy, and supervised visits. When these measures fail, a child is made a ward of the state. "Foster care" is the term used for the state-run system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state-certified caregiver. To cite a staggering statistic, Fostercaremonth.org claims that 78,278 children were in the foster care system in California alone in July of 2006.

The Trauma of Change

During my early days as a psychotherapist I worked with group homes and foster care agencies in California. In my experience, children in "the system" had a horrifying laundry list of abuse and neglect on their records before they were actually taken from their families and placed in state care.

A relative of one child made about fifty CPS calls before that child was placed in a group home. Prior to his placement, he was duct-taped and shoved in a closet while his mother worked as a prostitute. The concerned relative was initially willing to take him into her home, but by the time he was finally removed from his mother's care, he had Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), was severely emotionally disturbed, had uncontrollable behavior issues, and had destroyed property and tortured animals. At this point, he needed trained professional care and constant supervision to ensure his (and others') safety in addition to several psychiatric medications prescribed by a psychiatrist.

This is not an isolated case. While the successful removal of a child from an abusive situation is arguably a healthy step, it's important to note that children can also experience additional trauma as a result of this drastic change. When they are removed from their families, they are often separated from siblings due to overcrowding at group homes and limited housing options. They leave behind pets, belongings, and familiar surroundings. They lose friends as they are relocated to new areas. Even when the relocation is a positive step, it can come with an emotional price.

In Part 2 of this series, I'll talk about the consequences a broken foster care system may have.

only in family court are rape victims forced into reunification with their abuser. the goal should be to protect the child.

If children are found to be in imminent danger, the first goal is always protect the child. Once the child is removed from the offending individual there are dual goals, one remaining protect the child and the second reunification.

The rape of a child is a serious criminal offense where child welfare would be working with the local law enforcement. In certain conditions the federal law (Adoption and Safe Families Act) would allow for a quick terminination of parental rights. However this is not always in the child's best interests and depending on their age they have a say in the goals.

The true insanity is how despite our "fostercare" system, there is still opposition in this country to birth control or even women who willingly do not have kids!
If free birth control to every American who wanted it would end this kind of suffering, I would volunteer to help fund such an intiative.

I am a survivor of the foster care system. I was placed in foster care when I was young and adopted by the couple who took me and my brother on as foster kids. They went on to abuse us, as well as their natural children both emotionally and physically.

When I became older and acted out, I was placed in a series of foster homes and then in a group home where we were compelled to worship at a pentecostal church. There were no alternatives for most children placed there. My first time in their church, I witnessed someone speaking in tongues. I'd never seen that before, and it frightened me to death. I tried to leave the church, but the staff followed me out and led me back in by my arms. We learned to fake conversion and take turns doing it for special treatment. Then we'd backslide and let the next girl take her turn. We were constantly being indoctrinated as part of our treatment.

As a result of this experience, I dropped out of school. I had moved schools so many times that it seemed almost pointless to go on with my education. It had been disrupted so much that there was no continuity in my studies. I went on to pick up my GED at the age of 26. I remember a lot of emotional neglect in the foster homes and emotional abuse in the group homes along with the religious abuse. I'm sure you could hear many stories that are not much different from mine. Being placed in foster care is not an automatic happy ending for a child. Sometimes the only result is more abuse at the hands of people you don't know. It isn't unusual for kids placed in such institutions to think to themselves that they'd rather be at home even with the abuse, because at least it was stability, after a fashion. It's better than bouncing around in the system until you age out and you're left to figure it out on your own. There is very little support for people who leave the system.